British families of 9/11 victims described Barack Obama as ‘cruel’ yesterday for comparing the terrorist outrage to the BP oil spill.

The U.S. president said there were ‘echoes’ between the Gulf of Mexico disaster and the Al Qaeda suicide attacks which killed 2,995 people, including 67 Britons.

He said that just as the events of September 11, 2001, had profoundly shaped ‘our view of our vulnerabilities and our foreign policy’, so the oil disaster would shape thinking on the environment and energy for years to come.

Those who lost loved ones when terrorists flew hijacked planes into the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Centre said Mr Obama’s remarks were yet another attempt to slur the UK.

'In the same way that our view of our vulnerabilities and our foreign policy was shaped profoundly by 9/11,' he said, 'I think this disaster is going to shape how we think about the environment and energy for many years to come.'

He didn't say the oil spill directly comparable to 9/11. He just said both with change our perspectives, respectively. I can't say that I disagree.

BO has dropped the ball big-time on this. After a week he should have sent in someone that knows how to clean it up and let BP foot the bill. Its rediculous that they are making quite a few ships willing to help sit out there and not let them because they aren't union. The press would have been raping Bush after 3 days.

Aren't we up to 7 Exxon Valdez' now?

I don't remember wher I was when i first heard about the oil rig explosion.